[CoLoCo] Live by the EULA Die by the EULA

[Kevin Fries]

On Fri, 2008-04-04 at 06:56 -0400, Michael "TheZorch" Haney wrote:
> So, how soon do you think Microsoft will change the Windows EULA because 
> of this incident?  It would be so like them to do that in order to avoid 
> paying taxes.

They can't.  Its one of the reinforcing features preventing reverse
engineering.  If you own a product, you have the right to dismantle it
and change it any way you want.  After all, a purchase implies that
ownership has transferred to you (they may not have to support altered
software, but since when has Microsoft supported their software for free
anyway, lol).

Use a car as an example.  If I go down to the Ford dealership and
purchase a car, once ownership has transferred to me, Ford can not
restrict any modifications to the car, even under contract.  Without
them having ownership of the car, they are no longer an interested
party.  But ownership is retained by the manufacturer in a lease.
Again, a car that is leased is owned by the Ford Leasing Company
(whatever their name is).  Now I can not do as I please with the car
because I don't own it.  I only own a right to use it. 

If Microsoft stopped leasing the right to use, and sold the software
outright, watch how fast the open community would be reverse engineering
Windows.  While I have no doubt it is done clandestinely now, once sold,
the real big guys will now be able to do so openly and legally.  That
could be disastrous for Microsoft.  Wine may actually finally work
correctly.

This ruling should actually be a killer for any proprietary software.
Take a close look at that EULA that you blow through on install for
almost any Windows based product.  The real good news if this holds up
is that, nearly every non-open source product that works on Windows
works the same way.  This could be a huge incentive to get many of them
to move into an open source, instead of commercial, model.

-- 
Kevin Fries
Senior Linux Engineer
Computer and Communications Technology, Inc
A Division of Japan Communications Inc.